Serial killer was in NH amid spree

By NANCY WESTNew Hampshire Sunday News

FBI seeks help

Alaskan serial killer Israel Keyes is believed to have committed multiple kidnappings and 11 murders across the country, including New England and possibly New Hampshire between 2001 and March 2012 before committing suicide in an Anchorage jail cell. The FBI is seeking assistance in developing more information about his travels to identify additional victims.

Anyone with information concerning Keyes or missing loved ones is encouraged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Alaskan serial killer Israel Keyes was registered April 9, 2009, at the Highlander Inn in Manchester during a week in which he kidnapped a woman from one East Coast state, killed her in another and ultimately dumped her body in a third state, he later confessed to the FBI.

"During that trip, he told us, he had murdered someone," said FBI Special Agent Jolene Goeden. "We believe she was kidnapped from New Jersey and taken to another state where she was murdered, and then he disposed of her body in upstate New York."

Could Keyes, 34, an Anchorage contractor and handyman who traveled extensively and is believed to have murdered 11 strangers, have killed the unidentified New Jersey woman in New Hampshire, since he flew into the Manchester airport on April 7, 2009, and flew back to Seattle a week later?

"We just don't know. It is certainly possible," Goeden said, given his familiarity with New Hampshire and the East Coast in general, which he referred to as his "stomping grounds."

About the victim, Keyes taunted investigators in 2012 after his arrest: "I'm not giving a name today."

It was a busy week in April 2009 for Keyes, who rented a 2007 Hyundai Sonata in Manchester with a license plate X74QFZ, according to a time line of his whereabouts on the FBI website.

He put 1,047 miles on the rental car during that time and is believed to have robbed a bank in Tupper Lake, N.Y., the day after he registered at the Highlander Inn in Manchester.

Keyes, an Army veteran who committed suicide in an Anchorage jail cell last December, was no stranger to New Hampshire, having flown Southwest Airlines to Manchester on Oct. 6, 2004, putting 1,745 miles on a rented red Kia Amanti, license plate 1230139, before flying back to Seattle 10 days later.

He also took a couple of flights from the Northwest to Boston and Chicago from 2008 to 2011. Keyes admitted to randomly killing Bill and Lorraine Currier - a middle-aged married couple - on June 8, 2011, in Essex, Vt.

The FBI believes Keyes murdered a total of 11 people, but he identified only three - the Curriers and Anchorage barista Samantha Koenig, 18 - during extensive FBI interviews while awaiting trial in connection with Koenig's slaying.

Help requested

The FBI is asking for help from people in New Hampshire and across the country to trace Keyes' travels and learn the identity of the other victims whose bodies have not been found and whose loved ones may not have even reported them missing. The FBI said his victims were mostly female and ranged in age from teenagers to the elderly.

Authorities do not believe Keyes had anything to do with the disappearance in New Hampshire of nursing student Maura Murray from Route 112 in Haverhill on Feb. 9, 2004, or the murder of Celina Cass, 11, in Stewartsown two years ago, she said.

"We are asking for people to look at the time line on the FBI website and the time frames to see if any missing people fit that time frame and to call the FBI," Goeden said.

Associate Attorney General Jane Young said the FBI has been in ongoing contact with New Hampshire State Police.

"I am aware the FBI and the Major Crimes Unit have had ongoing dialogue about Keyes," Young said Friday, but she had no additional information regarding Keyes' trips to New Hampshire and New England or potential victims here.

'Murder kits'

He was known to drive long distances. Keyes flew from Anchorage, where he lived with his girlfriend and daughter, to Chicago on June 2, 2011, rented a car and drove to Essex, killing the Curriers on June 8, 2011, according to the time line. Then he traveled around the East Coast before driving back to Chicago.

Keyes was known to leave "murder kits" around the country containing weapons and cash from bank robberies he committed, according to the FBI.

"As to the April 2009 victim, we think we know who she is," Goeden said, "but we are looking for additional information."

Keyes was unusual in the realm of serial killers because he killed men and women and didn't have a specific age or type, although he did prefer strangulation as the method to kill his victims, Goeden said.

"He chose victims more based on the situation, if he saw a good opportunity versus the specific person," Goeden said.

Goeden interviewed Keyes many times.

"There were times we talked to him and had a normal conversation, like you were talking to your next-door neighbor," she said. "Other times when he was talking about his crimes, it was a different Israel Keyes, the other side he didn't think people would ever see."

Keyes liked talking about his double life.

"He enjoyed the fact that he fooled people," Goeden said.

She encouraged families who know of missing loved ones whose disappearance may coincide with the time line to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

"There still are a lot of unknowns, unanswered questions for families out there," Goeden said.